“Who are you?” Harry asked, putting on the glasses that Remus had handed to him. Ron and Hermione exchanged a concerned look and Remus leaned forward.
“Harry, what is the last thing you remember?” he asked gently, taking the first question as a mistake. After all, Harry hadn’t had his glasses on, Remus thought to himself. Unfortunately, he couldn’t make himself believe this idea.
“Harry?” Harry inquired, a confused look on his face.
“It’s your name, mate,” Ron answered worriedly.
“It is?”
“Yes.” Remus was the one to answer him this time. “Now, what can you remember?”
Harry’s brow furrowed in concentration. He remembered waking up to find these people sitting around him, but who were they? Why was he here? And where exactly was here? Everything before he opened his eyes was a massive black blur. “I-I don’t know,” he finally replied, albeit uncertainly. His shakiness soon gave way to fear. “Who are all of you, anyway?”
“It’s us, Harry,” Hermione answered with a shaky voice and unshed tears in her eyes. “We’re your best friends.”
“Friends?”
“Yeah, mate,” Ron said. “We’ve been mates since first year.”
“The first year of what?”
“Hogwarts,” Hermione supplied quietly.
“Hog- wait. What?” Harry dimly registered the name being vaguely familiar, but it was not familiar enough to form a memory.
“Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,” Remus said slowly. “It’s where you’ve been taught for five years.”
“School of… wizardry?” Harry murmured confusedly. “I don’t understand.”
“Harry,” Hermione began. “You’re a wizard. Can’t you remember?” She looked as if it was all she could do to keep her tears from falling.
Harry found the phrase familiar as well. Where had he heard it before? Someone very large had said it. Wait, large? No, it couldn’t be ‘large.’ Maybe his mind was remembering someone important, but not large.
“Here.” Remus picked up Harry’s wand from the bedside table and handed it to Harry, who took it cautiously. “Point it away from you and say the first thing that comes into your mind.”
Although he was quite sure that the people around him had obviously gone mad, Harry did as he was told; he closed his eyes and pointed the wand away from himself. Then, as if someone else had taken control of his mind, he muttered wingardium leviosa! He opened his eyes to find the lamp on the bedside table floating in midair.
“Woah!” he gasped, dropping the wand. The lamp fell the few inches and landed on the table again. “What happened?”
“Well,” Remus said, picking up and placing Harry’s wand on the table, “we told you that you’re a wizard.”
“I can do magic?”
“Yes.”
Harry hesitated. “Okay,” he began slowly. “So, my name is ‘Harry’?”
“Yes,” Remus replied, felling rather strange to even be having this conversation in the first place.
“Harry what?”
“Harry Potter.”
“Okay. My name is Harry Potter and I go to… Hogwarts?”
“Yes.”
“I’m a… fifth year?” Harry calculated.
“Correct.”
“And I’m a… wizard?”
“Absolutely.”
“Then, does that mean you’re my dad?”
Remus felt as if he had been winded. He glanced at Ron and Hermione and saw the pain in both of their eyes. Hermione, who had been trying so hard to control her emotions, had finally let her tears fall.
“No. I-I’m not, Harry,” he supplied quietly.
Harry blinked. “Oh. Then where is he? And my mum?”
Remus swallowed hard; this was getting worse. “Harry… your parents were… They were killed when you were a year old. I’m sorry.”
Now it was Harry’s turn to feel winded. He had no parents? He was an orphan? He had no family? Swallowing, he said, “They’re dead?”
“Yes, unfortunately.”
“For how long?”
“Fourteen years.”
“So, I’m… fifteen?”
“Right.”
“Then, who are all of you?”
“I’m Remus. I am… I was your father and godfather’s best friend.” This just kept getting more and more uncomfortable for Remus to have to explain.
“So, I live with my godfather, then?” Harry was sure that he must have some family.
“No, actually. He’s dead, too,” Ron said without thinking. Hermione smacked him in the back of the head. Hard.
“What Ronald means is that he was killed too,” she supplied with a bit more compassion.
“Ronald? Killed?” Harry was now feeling incredibly confused.
“Yes. He’s Ron Weasley and I’m Hermione Granger. We’re you’re best friends.” She looked down at her shoes, examining the laces. “Your godfather, Sirius Black, was killed in a battle two days ago,” she continued hesitantly.
“A…battle?”
“Yes, Harry,” Remus replied. “Your parents were killed in a war that ended fourteen years ago. The man, or wizard rather, that was responsible was retuned to power last year. One of his number killed Sirius the night before last.”
“You’re finally awake!” Madame Pomfrey entered the Hospital Wing at that moment, waking the others and temporarily ending their conversation. “How are you feeling, Mr. Potter?”
Harry assumed that she must have been speaking to him. “Sore,” he answered, unable to explain his pain.
“I’d be surprised if you weren’t,” she continued, looking him over. “Do you know how long you were held under the curse?”
“Curse?” Harry was now quite thoroughly confused. What curse? He should be sore? All he knew was what he had been told and he still didn’t know anything about who he was. Sure, he now knew that he had a name, but what was his life like? What kind of person was he? Who did he live with? Who was he?
“Poppy,” Remus said, bringing Harry out of his thoughts, “I think the curse caused… amnesia, I suppose. He can’t remember anything from before he woke up.” Luna’s eyes widened past their normal protuberance as Ginny and Neville gasped. “He didn’t even know his own name. We had to tell him what it was,” the werewolf finished, unable to keep the pain out of his voice.
“Well…” Madame Pomfrey stated slowly, looking a bit taken aback but not entirely surprised. “It may be temporary…”
“May be?” Ron exclaimed.
“I think we should inform Professor Dumbledore,” the matron continued , ignoring Ron’s outburst.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Are you sure that you don’t remember anything from before you woke up?” Dumbledore had arrived soon after Harry awoke.
“Positive,” Harry replied, beginning to feel irritated at being asked the same question so many times.
“What are we going to do Dumbledore?” Remus asked from his seat next to Harry’s bed.
Dumbledore hesitated. “I’m afraid,” he began, “I do not know.”
“What do you mean ‘you don’t know,’ Headmaster!” Ginny finally spoke, anger flashing in her eyes. She stood, gazing at the headmaster unflinchingly. “You have fixed everything since… since… well, since my mum and dad were in school! Probably before that! How can you not have the answers now; when we need them the most?” She had shouted herself hoarse and was shaking slightly.
The others in the room were gaping at the redhead. They had never seen her lose control like this. Ginny, calm, cool, and collected at even the worst of times, was breaking down right in front of them. As they watched, Ginny visibly collected herself and sat down, turning her eyes on the professor again. Her next statement came out as a furious whisper.
“What are we going to do, Professor?”
And now things are REALLY getting interesting, eh? This chapter was pretty hard for me to write, but it had to be done. Harry is indeed OOC, but how can he not be? I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review, as always, if you get a second. Thank you! ~Moony
Cruciatus Cursed by Moony 62442
Chapter Notes: Here we are, chapter three. As usual, I owe it all to JKR… except maybe the storyline; that is actually mine! So, I hope you enjoy and please review!